International budgeting-challenges for German-French companies

摘要

The international convergence of management accounting practices is widely discussed in the field of comparative management accounting research. Previous research has focused on the dissemination of particular management accounting techniques, triggered primarily by multinational companies that standardise their management accounting instruments. However, it remains unclear whether these instruments are used in the same manner in different countries. Our paper contributes to the answer of this question and explores the differences in the handling of standardised budgeting practices in multinational companies using the example of German-French enterprises. Based on a cross-sectional field study that consists of expert interviews with senior management accountants with binational working experience, our findings suggest that the standardisation of management accounting techniques does not necessarily imply a standardised usage. Although the companies studied seek to standardise their budgeting practices, considerable differences concerning the usage in everyday practice between the German and French subsidiaries exist. Both the preparation and the utilisation of budgets differ significantly.